FINISTERRA ROUTE - Day 2

Leaving Negreira

When I left the hotel rain was threatening but fortunately I didn´t need my raincoat for the first hour. From Negreia you pass through many forests, open land and small hamlets that seemed to tumble into each other.

At one time I was walking along a little lane when a heard of cows started coming down towards me. I went back to where there was a small cross roads. The cows continued to come down, dozens of them. I started to take a video of them and gave a running commentary. "OK" I said to the lead cow "You just go on your way, I don´t want you to come any further in my direction." She stopped and looked at me with her head down so I moved over to the other side of the lane. I was standing in her way and as soon as I moved she started walking up the lane with all the other cows following. I started walking up the lane and another flipping herd started coming down. I was too far up to go back down again so I stood aside, pressed against a stone wall with fat cows ambling past me, turning their heads to give a beady eyed stare at this stranger standing on their lane. There was a woman herding them down the lane and she shouted at them as they passed me. For the next few hundred metres I was stepping around cow dung patties all hot and steamy!

At Vilaserio I pass the vacant schoolhouse where pilgrims can sleep the night and have a shower - no electricity.
I passed 2 pilgrims along the route, then a lone female, then a couple. I had planned on stopping at Santa Marina (19.5km) but I got there at 12 o´clock and the place that reportedly had rooms was right on the highway with a busy bar next door. I didn´t know what I would have done with myself from mid-day to 8pm so I just carried on walking.

Peter, a pilgrim from Holland caught up to me and started chatting about South Africa, the Dutch history, Afrikaans etc so we walked together to Oliveiroa about 12.5km further on. We got there at about 2pm. A sign on the door said that the hospitalero would only arrive at 4pm so please choose a bed and make yourself comfortable. It is a good albergue, the sitting area and registration room is a building on the left side of the path. There is also a stable with beds upstairs and a few mattresses downstairs. Across the narrow, stone path is a stone building with a dormitory and bathroom downstairs and upstairs. Next to that is a small stone building with beds for 4 people and next to that is a stone Horrero that is lit up at night.
While I was doing my washing I met Conny, a woman from Holland (there were about 6 Hollanders staying there) and we just hit it off right away.

"Are you English?" she asked. "No, South African" I said "but I speak English.

"So what do you do in South Africa then? Are you in business?"

"No" I said "I´m just a housewife, mother, grandmother."

"How boring" she said. I just burst out laughing! "And you?" I asked her. "You are a rocket scientist?" She burst out laughing. We went to one of the bars - in another stone building right next to the Horrero, and had lunch and a drink. At 4pm the hospitalero arrived and when it was my turn to register I told him that I was a volunteer hospitalera for Corcubion and could he tell me when it would reopen. 1 Julio - he told me. There was a fiesta in the town and the stalls, bandstand etc had all been set up right outside the building that housed the albergue. I decided that I would walk to Muxia - about 28kms away - and walk to Finsiterre the day after.
At about 6pm a woman arrived in a car and a woman asked for Sylvia. This was Begona from Finisterre. "If you walk to Finisterre tomorrow you can stay for 2 days" she said. So, I changed my mind and decided to walk to Finisterre and not to Muxia after all.
It had been a long day so I went to bed at about 8:30pm. There was one snorer in the room who had the most incredible range or snorts, rumbles, chain-saw growls. I finally fell asleep and only heard him intermitantly.

Friday in Santiago

Marion
Everyday we started off with the sound of an alarm clock to wak us up, and then it was a rush around to get ready to start our day of walking, so as we had a free day we did not need to get up early so we never set the alarm. It felt so strange to wake up without hearing the alarn and no need to rush out of bed to get ready. I found it difficult to lie in bed so got up anyway. Most of the day we spent looking at shops and I bought a few souvenirs to take home. The highlight of the day for me was going to the pilgrim service at the cathedral. The cathedral was packed with mostly pilgrims and quite a lot of tourists. The botefumeira was hanging down so Syl said that they must be going to swing it - that sent a tremble through me as when we were here in Santiago 2 years ago I was so looking forward to seeing the botefumeira being swung and they did not swing it. I found the whole service very emotional especially the nun singing and the atmosphere in the cathedral, it was electrifying.

Sil

We went to bed quite early and watched Bafana-bafana play Brazil on television. Neither of us could stay awake but I got up to switch the TV off at 1.5 mins to go and saw that Brazil had scored. It was raining this morning and we kept ducking into the arcades to escape the drizzle.
We went to the morning market and Marion bought souvenirs and a t-shirt. How Val would have loved this market with its fish section, meat section, fresh fruits and vegetables. She would also have loved the restaurant windows in Santiago with their live lobsters, octopus and other regional food displays. Next time Val!
We went for coffee, chocolate and churros at a little coffee shop nearby. Then we went to the cathedral and found seats in the cross section. It was packed with pilgrims sitting on the floor on the sides. The nun sang, the priests trooped in and the mass began. The Botafumeiro was hanging from the vault but nobody was sure that it would be swung at mass so there was an air of expectation. I looked around me at the man faces there, mostly pilgrims. Some were dozing - many can´t understand the Spanish and the elderly priest mumbled like the Godfather so we couldn´t even make out the names of the countries that pilgrims had arrived from the day before. I thought of the medieval pilgrims and stories of running battles in the cathedral between pilgrims from different nations. On some occaisons the battles were so great that the cathedral had to be scrubbed clean of the bloodshed and re-consecrated before it could be used again. There were a few grumbles from people who blocked other´s views but no blood was shed! I thought about this cathedral being declared a Patrimony of Human kind. It belongs to all the people of the world and the people of Satiago are the custodians. A pilgrim told us that she had walked to Rome and was revolted by the the cold, hard, lavish grandeur of St Peter´s compared to the bustling, éveryman´atmosphere in Sant Iago´s cathedral. I know what she meant. People here arrived in shorts, boots, walking sticks, packs still on their backs and nobody was turned away. At St Peter´s they scruitinze the length of your skirt, whether or not your arms are covered, and woe betide anyone who doesn´t meet the criteria!
When communion started and the 8 priests in scarlet robes were summonsed, there was a stirring in the congregation, most eyes on the Botafumeiro - was this it? Were they going to see the Holy Smoke burner swinging across the nave? No. Not yet, first communion and then the maroon robed tiraboleiros arrived and the large silver thurible was lowered to a stirring of the congregation. Cameras starting clicking and people jostled for a better position to take videos. Soon it started to swing, first away from where we were sitting and then higher and higher above our heads with large gasps, oohs! and Aaaahs! with each swing. Then it was over and people clapped. In 2002 when I walked to Santiago we saw the Botafumeiro swinging in the cathedral. Later, at a meeting with Don Jaime (priest in charge of the pilgrim´s office and the mass) he asked if we had enjoyed the mass. Ýes,´we said, ánd we saw the Botafumeriro.´ He was not pleased. ¨No importante´he said. But I don´t agree. Every pilgrim who visits the cathedral wants to see the Botafumeiro and those that don´t are usually disappointed.

After mass we window shopped and then went to a special lunch at the ´Cafe Casino´- I had a vegetarian canneloni with crispy cheese topping - very tasty. We then walked down to where Marion will get her bus, looking for a shoemaker to cut and restitch my new waist bag that I bought yesterday. The Info centre told us that there was one in San Pedro - the road that pilgrims walk in from the Camino Frances - so off we went to the other side of town. The shop was closed until 4pm so we had an icecream and strolled up and down San Pedro greeting tired pilgrims as they trudged through the Porto Camino on their way to the cathedral. We took a trip on the little tourist train on a scenic tour around Santiago. Neither of us is hungry so we sit in the square, Marion with wine and me with a Kas orange drink, a packet of Dortios, olives and some cheese and watch the people in the square. On the way back to the hostal we meander through all the little alleys and we are offered morsels of Tarta de Santiago and Carprichos - little almond meringues. Marion tastes the regional goat's cheese and decides to buy one to take home. Tomorrow Marion leaves for home and I start off on the Fistera route. I´m not nervous to be walking on my own as I know that many pilgrims walk this route. So, until the next internet machine, this is Sil, over and out from Santiago.

Marion Saturday.

I walked with Syl to the square, it was awful saying goodbye as I would have loved to have walked the extra few days, just a pity that I had booked my flight before we knew that Syl was going to walk to Finisterra instead of catching the bus. After leaving Syl I decided to go and have a coffee in one of the cafe bars before going back to the hotel to pack . When I arrived back at the hotel going up the stairs ahead of me I could see someone bending over with a backpack on with a South African flag. My mind was concertrating on what I was going to do for the rest of the day so at first did not register that it was Syl. It went through my mind "must be another South African in the hotel" all of a sudden the figure straightened up and I realised that it was Syl. I said " what on earth are you doing here", she told me that she had left her directions behind for the day and had come back for them and was busy writing me a note. So back to the square we went and another goodbye was said. Most of the day I wondered around the shops. I did go back to the cathedral to the pilgrim service at 12.00 and was ever so fortunate as again theyswung the botefumeira. I arrived at the airport early and they would not let me book in as the plane that was leaving from Madrid to South Africa had been overbooked by 10 people, they needed to wait to seeif I was going to be given a seat on that flight before they would book me from Santiago to Madrid. I was rather upset as I had confirmed my flight a few times. So I went and sat in the resturant and had something to ear and drink. The lady from the Iberia counter came to look for me and said that it had been confirmed that I would be on the flight so could now book in but the flight was delayed. So when I reached Madrid I had to hot foot it to my connecting flight. Can you imagine my relief when I sat down on the plane. Unfortunately when I arrived in Johannesburg my luggage had gone missing from the plane to the conveyer belt!! Luckily they found it and delivered to that night to my daughters in Joburg where I stayed for a couple of days before coming home to Durban. I am really sad that my journey is now over, will have to start planning another. I often look for my sticks when getting up from a chair and miss the backpack on my back. Cannot wait for a get together with Val & Syl to go over our times together.

"Our bags are packed, and we're ready to go...."

The emails are flying between us!

Marion:

"Yesterday I packed my back pack and just now I weighed it Bugger, Bugger, Bugger it weighs toooooooooooooooooooooo damm much!!!!!!! 6kg and I have not got any winter woollies in!!!!! So now back to the drawing board, unpacking to see if I can take out anything!!!!!"

Val:

"I kid you not that it took me 8 hours to pack my back pack on Sunday, I actually burst into tears and Martin gave me a glass of wine and a cuddle!!!!
I have not weighed it because there is not one thing that is not on Syl’s list and I even took out most of my toiletries, should be fun trying to get a comb through my hair without conditioner…it is like straw!"

Syl:

Your pack will be fine! Weigh it - just in case it is over the limit allowed in the cabin. The dimensions are actually more important. It must be about 56cm X 45cm X 25cm. If it is a bulging ball it won't fit in the overhead locker. Squash it to fit those dimensions and tie the cords very tight.

Val:

You might have to sit on mine on the way to the airport!

Photo: This is my pack duly squashed, corsetted and manipulated to measure the correct dimensions. It weighs 5.15kg.

Two days and counting!!!